Bears GM Ryan Poles has tough act to follow in this year's draft

Bears general manager Ryan Poles gave himself a tough act to follow.

Last year, in conjunction with new head coach Ben Johnson, Poles drafted tight end Colston Loveland, who led the Bears in both catches and receiving yards, in Round 1; Luther Burden, who ranked third among qualified NFL receivers in yards after catch per reception, in Round 2; and Kyle Monangai, who finished 24^th in the league in rushing yards, all the way down in Round 7.

Second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo finished 31^st of 84 qualifiers in Pro Football Focus’ offensive tackle grades, while sixth-rounder Luke Newman would have finished 30^th of 79 guards had he played enough snaps.

Among 2025 classes, only the Browns compare. The Browns finished 5-12 last season, though. The Bears went 11-6 and won their first playoff game in 15 years.

Last year’s class might not even prove to be Poles’ best. If quarterback Caleb Williams becomes the franchise quarterback the Bears increasingly believe he can be — and if receiver Rome Odunze can stay healthy — then Poles’ 2024 first round will go down as nothing less than franchise-shifting.

Good luck following that in this year’s draft, which starts Thursday in Pittsburgh — especially when Poles isn't scheduled to draft until No. 25 overall. The Bears do hold four out of the first 89 picks, a product of trading receiver DJ Moore to the Bills for their second-round pick.

Poles’ fifth draft as Bears GM will be the most challenging of his career. For the first time since his burn-it-all-down first season, he doesn’t have a top-10 selection to use. For the first time ever, he has a playoff team to improve.

The Bears figure to lean just as heavily into defense this year as they did offense in their last draft. They’ll likely prioritize defensive end and defensive tackle, though they have starting jobs open at safety, linebacker and cornerback.

“You want to continue to have young talent come in and help us out on defense,” Poles told the Sun-Times at the NFL’s annual meeting last month. “Speaking out of both sides of my mouth — the hard part about the draft is drafting best available.”

Poles said that if all things are equal the Bears will “usually sequence [the draft] … to our needs.” The key, he said, is ensuring all things are equal without putting his finger on the scale.

Poles has a reputation for trading back — he’s only moved up once on draft day, and that was for second-round cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. In Round 1, though, he might be best-suited staying exactly where he is. Most draftniks believe there will be worthy defensive ends available at No. 25, from Missouri’s Zion Young to Auburn’s Keldric Faulk to Miami’s Akheem Mesidor.

“There’s going to be edge rushers there that make sense at 25,” ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper said Thursday. “It does line up, if they want the edge guy, at the right spot.”

Poles has done better than his predecessor did in Round 1.

From 2015-21, former Bears GM Ryan Pace made just five first-round picks. He got one right: linebacker Roquan Smith, the eighth pick in 2018, whom Poles later traded. None of Pace’s first-rounders — quarterbacks Justin Fields and Mitch Trubisky, edge rusher Leonard Floyd and one of the league’s greatest busts, receiver Kevin White — made it to a second contract with the Bears. Poles’ first-round picks — Williams, Odunze, Loveland and right tackle Darnell Wright — have already helped the Bears more than all of Pace’s first picks but Smith.

Nailing the 25^th pick is a separate challenge than drafting in the top 10, though, which is why Poles has studied the Steelers and Ravens. Since 2000, the two teams have found defensive stars with the last 12 picks in Round 1 — Pro Football Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed and two future Hall of Famers, edge rusher TJ Watt and defensive tackle Cam Heyward.

When Bears fans linked arms in outage over the team not receiving two third-round compensatory picks for losing assistant GM Ian Cunningham to the Falcons, it was hard to fathom exactly what they were upset about losing. Poles’ third-round picks over four years have been abysmal — receiver-turned-running-back Velus Jones, who had 12 catches and four fumbles in two-and-a-half seasons; defensive tackle Zacch Pickens, who hit the quarterback exactly four times in two years; and injured Yale tackle Kiran Amegadjie, who started one game — a “Monday Night Football” massacre — in 2024. The three played zero snaps for the Bears last year.

Poles was wise, then, to trade his 2025 third-round selection last year in a six-pick swap. He might be tempted to do something similar this year. If he holds onto No. 89 this year, history shows there should be future Pro Bowl players available. In the last 15 years, receiver Nico Collins, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and former Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks all were chosen in that spot.

If Poles can land an edge rusher in Round 1, he can use his three Day 2 picks on needs ranging from defensive tackle to safety, cornerback to center — or maybe even a developmental left tackle. Kiper believes the team could snag a useful receiver on Day 3, too.

“I think this draft does line up — with the way their needs are and the way the board sets up — to allow them to have a pretty productive draft,” he said.